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Chapter III: Heralds
Chapter III: Heralds is the third chapter of Shadow Fight 3. It consists of 12 main quests and 3 boss fights. Most of the chapter takes place in and around the Heralds' mysterious Dome, and centers on the events following the explosion of the Shadow Rig in Chapter II. The player, June, and Itu flee to the Dome in order to seek help from the Heralds and hopefully learn the location of the Emperor and the Shadow Sphere. List of Main Quests Chapter III consists of 15 main quests, of which 3 are boss fights. Storyline The Heralds' Dome Itu leads the player and June to find the Dome, which is invisible to common people as there are several anomalies surrounding it that only the Heralds can overcome. Under his guidance, they manage to reach the Dome after fending off the Sliders who guard it. The trio then heads to the Heralds' dojo in order to plan their next course of action. There, they are greeted by Bolo, the counselor of the Heralds and the manager of the Dome. Bolo possesses knowledge regarding the whereabouts of the Sphere but, before he divulges anything, he insists that the trio tour the Dome with him. June expresses her impatience, questioning the logic behind strolling in parks when they should be searching for the Emperor. Bolo insists that while the Heralds are great friends with the Emperor, he cannot say anything further till the player demonstrates their fighting skills on the main streets of the Dome. Bolo's Scheme After the player is victorious, it is revealed that Bolo intends to cover the entire capital with the Dome. June is surprised by this as according to her, the Emperor wanted to utilize the Shadow Sphere to maintain peace and had already asked her to start researching on it. Bolo replies that the Emperor changed his mind and now agrees with his plan of using the Dome instead. He tries to justify his scheme by saying that his plan is much more humane as it would not hurt anyone and nobody will notice that something is different. The illusion of the Dome will hence ensure that people have a happy life that lasts forever. Itu questions the validity of Bolo's plans, pointing out a fault in them - expanding the Dome will result in an expansion of its anomalies as well, causing a time diffusion that will result in the common people getting trapped in a never-ending, repeating time cycle. Bolo admits that this was exactly his intention, as it will also ensure that the sphere does not harm anyone. Any anomalies that occur can be easily suppressed by his spectre officers. Bolo slyly reveals that while the Emperor is nearby, something has changed inside of him. June concludes that her father is either dead or has been brainwashed somehow. She threatens to kill Itu, thinking that he conspired with Bolo. Itu quickly tries to defend himself by insisting that he is still an agent of the Three Arrows like June and although he was sent by Bolo, he was not aware of his changed plans. Bolo once again tries to swing the argument in his favor by asserting that he was tired of this fighting and violence, and suggests that they all return to the peace of the dojo. June decides that she has had enough - no matter how powerful Bolo was, it was now time to deal with him. The player then fights and defeats Bolo. However, victory is short-lived. Endless Time Cycle It soon comes to light that the man the player fought was not in fact Bolo but a copy of him - the sixth one to be precise. The Heralds' Dome master had somehow figured out how to clone himself, becoming eternal in the process. An angry Bolo re-appears and banishes the trio to a place from where he says that no one has ever returned. Itu, June and the player find themselves in a strange place - a village of the Legion in the jungles of the Dynasty. They come across a Legionnaire named Marcus who is in the middle of delivering a speech to his soldiers. Come tomorrow, Marcus intends to attack the Dome and destroy the Heralds and the Shadow Sphere. Startled by the trio's sudden appearance, he orders his soldiers to arrest them. However, when the player manages to fend off the soldier sent to bring them in, Marcus declares he would not waste any more of his troops fighting the trio. Instead, they must now help him in the Legion's "holy war" the following day. Itu recalls that a long time ago, an army of Legionnaires had attacked and nearly destroyed the Heralds. They too had been lead by a man named Marcus. Experimenting with time, Bolo had somehow succeeded in imprisoning Marcus and his army in a time cycle. He concludes that Bolo must have sent them to the same place as well. June, who had been conversing with Marcus in the meantime, says that they will be a part of Marcus' squadron during the attack and that he knows a shortcut to the Dome. As they sneak through the forest of anomalies with Marcus' unit, June asks Itu the reason behind the strangeness of things under the Dome. Itu corrects her, saying that it is not strange, merely upgraded. He explains that the Heralds have managed to boost their brains to unprecedented levels using shadow energy. They can now use this energy to reshape the structure of any material. Confused, June admits that she does not understand what Itu means by structure but whatever it is, sounds dangerous. At this moment, they are attacked by the first enemy of Marcus' army. Somehow, the player manages to defeat this Shadowdiver who had attacked them but they discover that they are now alone in the forest. The entire army they had been traveling with has mysteriously disappeared. Marcus too has been affected - he has become glitched, constantly flickering in and out of existence. He says that every time he reaches this moment, his past comes back to him. He starts to remember that he has relieved this memory a million times before the cycle resets and he forgets it again. He tells the trio to leave him alone as very soon he will stop recognizing them as well. Itu is astonished by the fact that Marcus has somehow managed to exist in multiple dimensions at the same time. But he also realizes that since this was as far as Marcus' memory went, they would soon return to the beginning of the cycle again. No sooner had he said it that they find themselves back in the same moment where Marcus had delivered a speech to his soldiers pre-battle. Escaping Time Warp Itu says that they must hurry to find a way out. According to him, Bolo often used to perform his experiments upon himself. He had even ended up killing two of his clones that way. He recalls how Bolo used to escape the time loop - he would use an echo to lure in one of his doubles to the illusion and then escape to its reality. Itu says that they must now do the same and asks June to start singing or chanting in the hopes that her doppelganger will appear, coaxed by her voice. She starts her chant and soon enough her voice starts repeating itself. Itu tells them to be vigilant as very soon, June's clone was going to appear. However, as it turns out, it is not June's doppelganger but a Legionnaire Scout from the present time who was lured in by her chanting. He had dreamed of leading the Legion armies to the Dome but has now become trapped in the loop instead. Visibly upset about the sudden end to his utopia, he threatens the trio and his fought and subdued by the player. Itu then questions him about ways to get back. The scout reveals that Marcus is the key - he was the one who wanted to break out the most yet he himself is the source of this illusion. His glitched copy holds all his memories and if the player manages to defeat him then they will all be able to break out of this loop. After the player defeats Marcus, he finally wakes up from the illusion, thereby breaking the cycle. June considers asking him to accompany them, but Marcus turns down her offer. Even though he managed to escape the time loop, his army was still stuck in the illusion. He vows to release them even if it meant going back into the cycle again. Itu says that Marcus would not have come with them anyway and that they needed to get back to the Dome fast now. The Three Arrows Upon returning to the Herald's dojo, the trio encounters Galen. June is pleasantly surprised to see him and begins to narrate the recent events. Itu interrupts her, saying that they currently do not have time for stories as Bolo's army of Heralds is gathering outside the dojo. Once the player deals with the first wave of soldiers, June asks Galen if the latter has any information about Bolo's whereabouts. Suspicious, she wonders if Galen is perhaps Bolo himself in disguise. Galen refutes her, saying that he and Bolo hate each other now though they, along with the Emperor, were the Three Arrows. They had each sent out an agent to search for the Sphere and its champion. The Emperor had sent June, Bolo had sent Itu, while Galen had picked Kibo for the job. The fact that Kibo is Galen's agent surprises June. Galen says that he chose Kibo because she was good at keeping up appearances. Nobody ever doubted that she was working for Galen. When the rig blew up, Kibo saved the Emperor and then informed Galen of all that had happened. The Emperor was safe in the village with the blasted rig. He was also the last person to see the Shadow Sphere. The Shadow Sphere The trio, along with Galen, reaches the village. They manage to find the Emperor, who is not too pleased with the amount of time it took Galen to track him. June is extremely happy and relieved to see her father. Once the player gets rid of the spectre officer patrolling the area, the group turns to the Emperor for an explanation and information about the Sphere. The Emperor reveals that he was attacked by some kind of a monster who also destroyed the rig. Since then, he has lost his link with the sphere. June asks him to reveal a bit more about his past with Bolo to the player. The Emperor then tells his story. After the Three Arrows pact was signed, he had become the new keeper of the Sphere. However, he had sometimes used it as well to bring peace and prosperity to the land. Bolo had helped him in containing the side-effects within a void room, which had been designed specifically for this purpose. However, now that the Sphere no longer had a keeper, the only way to contain it and ensure that it did not consume the entire world was by taking it to the Sphere Temple. Itu says that they can get to the Sphere Temple by creating an intensified simulation in the void room. He has an agent who works there and can help them with the simulation. Once they reach the place however the agent, Shibata, informs them that the void room was already trying to create some kind of a temple since the moment the player had arrived. Itu tells him to turn on the full power of the void room so that they can send the player directly to the Sphere. At that moment, however, the Emperor gets possessed by the same monster that Kibo fought which indicates that the monster was hiding inside the Emperor all this time. He engages the player in a fight, preventing them from reaching the Sphere. A Choice That Determines Everything Itu and June start quarreling over who should go to the Temple in the player's stead. Itu insists that Shibata send him so that he can bring the sphere back and use its potential to save the Emperor and do good deeds. June asserts that no one should touch the Sphere until it chooses its new keeper. She says that she was ready to become the keeper, in honor of the traditions of her father. Meanwhile, Marcus, still in the village, is contemplating his next steps. Having failed to rescue his army, he wants to destroy the Sphere and rid the world of its evil once and for all. The player must now decide on whom to support. Marcus walks to the Sphere Temple, as the village is close to the Temple. While Itu and June get teleported to the Temple by Shibata. After finding the Sphere, Marcus proceeds towards the Sphere, only to be interrupted by Itu. Marcus then swings his giant sword to attack Itu, but he manages to dodge it, while also retaliating by attacking Marcus with his Katana. Marcus barely dodges it, he moves a bit so that the Katana hits his shoulder pad instead. Ready to fight back, Marcus throws away his sliced shoulder pad and charges towards Itu, swinging his giant sword many times without mercy. This is enough to force Itu to stay on the defensive side and eventually disarm him, and Marcus then punches him in the face. Meanwhile, June uses the opportunity to make contact with the Sphere. Marcus notices her presence and immediately rushes towards her. June dodges Marcus' attack quickly, and she jumps to his back and throws her chain knife to Marcus's back. The knife gets stucks on his armor, and Marcus pulls the chain to make June fall to the ground. As June tries to stand up, suddenly Itu appears and attacks June, but she dodges his attacks by spinning around and kicks Itu. As the three continue clashing, the Sphere starts to crack. In the meantime, the player is having their own battle as well - they must deal with the possessed Emperor. In the middle of the fight, the monster that took over the Emperor shows itself; Emperor transforms into a humanoid shadow monster which is extremely agile and has some unique shadow attacks. Despite this, however, the player emerges victorious. The Aftermath While the player was confronting the Emperor, Marcus, June, and Itu were grappling for the possession of the Sphere in the Temple. While they fought among each other, the keeper-less Sphere broke, releasing the Shadow Energy that was contained within it. Wisps of energy shoot out, slowly engulfing the three characters. A storm gathers over the Temple, with debris and Shadow Energy flying everywhere. What happens next is determined by whom the player had chosen before - *''If the player had chosen Marcus and agreed to destroy the Sphere:'' When the shadowy storm clears, Itu and June behold Marcus who is now in his shadow form. His hair and armor have darkened and his eyes are full of blue shadow energy. He proceeds to slam his sword in the ground, whereupon huge rifts appear in the Temple's surface. Tendrils of shadow energy shoot up and wrap themselves around the two remaining characters, pulling at them against their will. *''If the player had chosen June and decided to preserve the Sphere:'' When the shadowy storm clears, Marcus and Itu come face to face with June who has now been granted the power of the Shadow Sphere and has switched to her shadow form. She raises her hand and then uses shadow energy to compel Marcus and Itu to kneel down in submission. When she opens her eyes, they are bright blue just like Kibo and the Emperor. She smiles softly, apparently satisfied with the scene before her. *''If the player had chosen Itu and consented to his plan of exploiting the Sphere's potential:'' When the shadowy storm clears, June and Marcus find that Itu is now in his shadow form. They take a step back, unsure of what to do next. His eyes still closed, Itu slowly raises his Katana and proceeds to sheathe the blade. As soon as the sword slinks completely into the scabbard, a strong gust of wind emanates from the weapon, knocking into both Marcus and June. They crumple to the ground, unconscious. Itu opens his eyes, which now burn with shadow energy, and looks on. This marks the beginning of Chapter IV. Characters In Order of Appearance *Itu *June *Bolo *Marcus *Lost Scout *Galen *Emperor *Shibata *Shadow Mind Locations Appeared in This Chapter Below are the fight locations used for main quests, side quests, training, duels, and survival. Dojo heralds.png|Heralds Dojo. Backstreets.png|Lands of Dynasty, backstreets. Palace.png|Lands of Dynasty, capital's palace. Glitch.png|Heralds Dome, outer forest. Heralds street.png|Heralds Dome, main street. Destroyed village.png|Wasteland, destroyed village. Marcus village.png|Timeless village. Temple.png|Mysterious temple. Void room.png|Heralds Dome, Void room. New Shadow Pass Bosses *Claw (Gloomy Spectre) *Ada (Anomaly Hunter) *Divine Judge *Mnemos (Tracker) *Nanami (Shadow Artisan) *Future Keeper New Items, Equipment, and Abilities *Heralds Booster Packs. Weapons *Keen Katana *Steel Sai *Acute Naginata *Steel Claws *Slick Naginata *Razor Edge *Dark Cogs *Fate Slicer *Purple Peeler *Fate's End *Cyan Talons *Shadowslayer Armors *Cinder Coat *Compression Suit *Initiate Kimono *Ebony Armor *Enhanced Wrappings *Arrowproof Vest *Thick Plackart *Ghost Doublet *Heralds' Raiment *Agony Gleam *Shadowdiving Suit *Final Judgement Helms *Solid Band *Composite Mask *Leather Casque *Vigilante Mask *Kendogu Mask *Conical Headgear *Bright Kabuto *Lunar Shroud *Crested Cover *Mind Protector *Crescent Visor *Shadowdiving Muzzle Ranged Weapons *Onyx Shurikens *Iron Kunai *Wooden Harpoon *Tracker's Tri-blades *Heralds' Standart *Ragged Fin *Bright Shurikens *Crimson Death *Red Arrow *Ice Fangs *Selectors *Dragonfly's Bites Shadow Abilities *Dash *Windmill *Prod *Harpoon *Pounce *Displacement *Blink *Blast *Repel *Eruption *Bolt *Flow *Leap *Porcupine *Deactivation Special Moves *Mosquito Sting *Double Edge *Scraper *Triple Lunge *Kenjutsu *Kickback *Rolling Waves *Barb Leap *Flagpole *Thorn *Dynamo *Circumvention *Mutilation *Airscrew *Feral Fury *Sweeper *Mule Kick Perks *Accumulation *Aphotic Barrier *Critical Mass *Prepared Strike *Precision *Shadow Charge *Amplification *Deflection *Deterrence *Discharge *Primary Protection *Recharge *Interference *Shadow Affinity *Shadow Remedy *Time Bomb *Transfusion *Vaporization Trivia *Itu says that the Dome is invisible to common people and only Heralds know how to overcome its illusion. During the fights that take place in the forest surrounding the Dome, the outer part of the Dome will become visible when either the player or their opponents enter shadow form. *Neither Marcus nor any soldiers in his army use shadow energy. This alludes to Sarge's words back before the player fought him in Chapter I, where the old Legion did not involve shadow energy in their duels. *What happened to the Emperor when the party reached the Void Room is similar to what June described in Chapter I; if someone touches the Sphere, they will be enslaved and become a shadow beast. Category:Shadow Fight 3 Category:Heralds Category:Story (SF3) Category:Chapters